Cool Britannia

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Eurostar was after a killer concept to launch its new innovations: a reduced journey time and new arrival station in St Pancras. It needed a strong global communication concept to revitalize the Eurostar brand 12 years after launch and definitively position it as the next generation of short-haul travel, always “ahead of the game”.
The strategy was to create a vision of “New London” and make it “the place to be”, providing new reasons to discover or re-discover the city instead of going to Rome or Barcelona.
To do so, Eurostar created its own media called Newlondon.fr, which was an interactive web platform divided into two sections: New London web TV and the “YPES” (Your Personal Experts).
The YPES were a new generation of interactive city guides – four London experts representing four main areas of French tourists’ interests (music, art, shopping and business). Their role was to offer their expertise on New London live.
A one-of-a-kind live webcasting was set up in a special partnership with BBC, with the YPES answering consumers’ questions live during a two-hour slot every week, revealing where and how visitors could stay “ahead of the game”.
On the web TV side, 10 episodes of an exclusively produced London-themed comedy show was aired, plus eight episodes of “New London TV” dedicated to London culture.
Meanwhile, Eurostar forged partnerships with other media channels to integrate the brand into their editorial. This included “English Week” on Canal +, a TV channel with high affinity with Eurostar’s target audience, incorporating dedicated shows, interviews and cult movies about London. A special day was also dedicated to New London on influential radio station Europe 1, and a four-page advertorial published in le Monde.
The cumulative PR impact of the campaign hit a historical high for Eurostar, affirming the New London concept as the brand’s leading global communication platform for 2008 and onwards. To date, Newlondon.fr has received almost a million visits, generating almost two million impressions and half a million video views.

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